


Crossed Paths

by locrianrose



Series: Seeking Knowledge Verse [3]
Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, and also some sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-26
Updated: 2018-06-26
Packaged: 2019-05-28 19:05:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15055748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/locrianrose/pseuds/locrianrose
Summary: Five memories, one from each of the now Rust-5's lives since she became a guardian.





	Crossed Paths

**Prologue**

“I’m so dead, Galen.” Rust said to the other as he landed from the transmat out of his ship. “I’m going to be dead. I forgot what the Commander said.”

“Rust, you can’t possibly permanently die. Your ghost would bring you back.” Galen replied.

“Nope. This is it, Galen. No more reboots. Just the ever approaching threat of death.” Rust declared dramatically. She draped an arm over his shoulders, leaning on him as she did. Galen stood solidly under her weight, nudging her with an elbow. 

“Relax, Rust.” Galen said. “You don’t need to worry. You made a mistake, but there’s nothing else you could’ve done.”

“I refuse to relax! Things went terribly wrong! I got shot!”

“Rust…” Galen said, shaking his head. “Relax. We’ve got more important things to worry about. You promised me you’d start your recordings tonight.”

“That was before we got a mission.” Rust said. “Besides, wasn’t I just the one telling Callia to sleep? What kind of leader would I be if I didn’t follow my own advice.”

“Rust.” Galen said warningly. “You’ve been saying that you’ll start for weeks now. C’mon. I’ll sit with you if you want.”

“Fiiinnne.” Rust said. “I’ll do it, but you’re taking me out for ramen later.”

“Deal.” Galen nodded. “You’re not forgetting anything important this time.”

“I’m sure the important details will stick.” Rust said. 

“That’s just what you said last time, and then it took you a week to believe me when I told you that we were on a fireteam together.”

“I doubt that! You’re probably just remembering it wrong!” Rust said  “I would never!”

“Rust...I care about you.” Galen said quietly after a moment of hesitation. “We need to be ready this time.”

“I should be fine for at least another year or so.” Rust said. “I’ve made it farther than this my first time, you told me that.”

“That doesn’t mean that it’ll always be like that.” Galen replied. “Last time was shorter than before.”

“I have the mind of a steel trap.” Rust declared. “Nothing slips past me.”

“You forgot Callia wasn’t supposed to leave.”

“That doesn’t count!”

“Look.” Galen said. “I know I don’t ask much. I just want you to record the things you wouldn’t want to forget. Do it for me.” His voice was uncharacteristically tender, and Rust was taken aback. 

“If it matters that much, I’ll do it.” Rust said, slightly confused. “But you still owe me ramen.” She added quickly.

Galen nodded. “It’s a deal, but I’m not buying till I see the record.”

“I’ll do it, I’ll do it.” Rust reassured him. “Besides, what’s the worst thing that I could forget?”

**Rust-1**

“Hey there! I think it’s time that you get up now!”

The exo slowly stirred. As her optics flickered on she saw that she was laying half submerged in a lake, partially covered in muck and mud. She fought to raise herself from the water, sliding in the mud. 

“There you go! Hop right out.” 

“Who are you?” She said, looking up, trying to spot whoever was speaking. 

“I, am your ghost.”

Rust finally freed herself from the mud, crawling up onto the bank. She looked down at her hands, covered in an unknown layer of much and mud crusted over decades of rust.

“What am I?”

“Rusty. And dirty. We’ll have to see what I can do about this.”

The exo finally managed to pinpoint what was speaking to her, spotting something floating above her, peering down at her. It was bobbing overhead, hanging there. 

“Rusty, I like that.” The ‘ghost’ said. “I’m calling you that now. Or better yet-- Rust. I’ve seen another guardian in the area, and he seemed trustworthy from what I saw, so I’m going to guide you to the him, and he can help you from there. The two of you can team up, and it’ll make my job easier.”

“What is a guardian?” Rust asked, futilely attempting to scrape off more of the muck.

“You.”

“Me?”

“Right, you.”

“So I’m a guardian.” Rust said. “A guardian of what?”

“Humanity.”

“Excellent!” Rust said, determined. “That sounds good to me!”

“So you’re down? Just like that?”

“I am! It sounds like a worthy cause!”

“Well, let’s go then!” The Ghost said. “The hunter I saw was only a few miles south, so it shouldn’t be too hard to find him.”

“Do I get to challenge him?”

“What? No. You’re friends with him.”

“Ah, I see. We will be the best of friends!” Rust said.

“I’m sure you will. 

Rust, as the ghost had called her, began her slow trek around the side of the lake, following the directions that it chirped to her, enthusiastically asking questions as she did. 

“What was that?” She asked, breaking off her questions as she heard something ahead, loud noises coming from something in the bushes. 

“Gunfire-- Look, Rust, I need you to trust me. If you die, I can bring you back, and I need you to go make sure that isn’t the hunter in there and see if he needs help.”

Rust thought for a moment, considering what’d been said.

“You bought me back once. That seems proof enough for me.” 

With those words, she charged forwards, sprinting into the trees ahead towards the noise. As she charged into an open clearing, she saw a truly unusual sight.

An armored man was fighting something truly unusual-- a four armed creature, firing a gun at it. 

“Ghost, is that the hunter?” Rust called out. 

“Yes-- help him!”

Rust charged forwards, not sure what she could do to help, but as the creature reached the man, batting him backwards, Rust acted instinctively, swinging her fist and punching the creature. 

As she did, flames wreathed her fist, the powerful blow sending the creature flying back and away from her. It tumbled to the ground, unmoving. Rust stared at her fist for a moment, watching as the flames disappeared, then turned to the man who was pushing himself to his feet. 

“Hello,” Rust began, offering the same fist to him that she’d just punched the creature with. “Greetings. I believe that the ghost wanted me to find you.”

“Galen Simril.” He began, dusting himself off before taking her hand, shaking it firmly while eying her cautiously.

“Are you a noble guardian like the ghost told me? A man of valor and courage, ready to defend humanity?” Rust asked, reaching a hand to clap him on the back.

The hunter took the blow gingerly, stepping away.

“She’s new.” The ghost appeared. “Freshly revived. I saw you, before I revived her. You seem like a good man, so I sent her to help you.”

“Yes, and I did an excellent job!” Rust declared. “I used my fists! And they caught fire!”

“...Yes, they did.” The hunter seemed reluctant to talk. 

“Can you show me how we defend humanity? And how to fight! The ghost said I cannot die!”

“That’s true.” Galen looked to the ghost. “You said she’s new?”

“Fresh out of the mud.”

The hunter sighed. 

“Well, it’s better that you’re with me than one of the warlords.”

“So we will be helping each other now?”

“We will.”

**Rust-2**

“Galen, look at how many berries I can fit in my mouth at once!” Rust declared to the other. “I think I can beat my last record!”

“I don’t doubt that.” Galen said, kicking his feet up on a rock. “It shouldn’t be hard. I mean, you’ve barely got a mouth.”

“Nothing can stop me! My last record was spectacular! A thing to behold!”

“I meant that it shouldn’t be hard for you.” Galen said pointedly.

“After this, we’ll need to head back to the camp.” Rust said. “But first, I want to show you! We stopped the fallen that we needed to, and did so excellently!” 

“Rust. I’ll watch. Prove to me that you can do this, and we’ll take back whatever strawberries that are left over to camp.”

“Do you think that there’ll be any left over after this?” Rust winked one of her optics. “I think I can more than before.”

“I’m watching.” 

“Go, Rust, go!” Her ghost appeared, cheering. “I’ll keep track.”

Galen leaned back against the stone, looking down at the berries that Rust had gathered. 

Rust popped the first one into her mouth, pointedly nodding at Galen. 

“Here’s one.” Break. “Here’s two.” 

The process continued, Rust filling her mouth with the berries as Galen watched, relaxing, until Rust, finally triumphant, nodded to him. 

“See, Galen! I told you I could do it.” Rust said as she chewed, swallowing the berries. “

“I never doubted you.” Galen said. “I know what you’re capable of.”

“We should get going back the camp though.” Rust admitted. “We should see if there are more berries. They will be a welcome gift!”

“We don’t have to go back to the camp, Rust. We could leave.”

“What?” Rust asked, puzzled. “Of course we need to go back to the camp! The traveler is there, and the Speaker! They need our help to protect!”

“No,” Galen said, showing a rare frustration. “Rust. I mean that we don’t have to go back. We could go off on our own, and it’d be like it was before. It’d be quieter. They’ve got enough guardians there to do what they need to do, and we don’t have to be there. There are more than enough fallen to fight in the wilds.” 

“Galen.” Rust said, nodding. “They need us. We can help. We should go back. I don’t want to go back without you, but I’m going back no matter what.”

Galen sighed, letting his head hang for a moment. “Rust, I wouldn’t leave you there. Not for the world.”

**Rust-3**

Rust woke up with a start, the sounds of battle in her ears, reaching out and hitting the first thing she found, hard. 

Somewhere, she heard Galen yelp in surprise and shock, the noise jolting her out of her sleep. She looked over into the darkness to see him crouched a few feet away, clutching his nose. 

“Rust-- What the hell?” He asked, glaring in a rare display of irritation. 

“Oh--” Rust cussed, rushing to him, pushing away the memories of her dreams. “Sorry, Galen.”

“Jeez, it’s my fault for getting too close.” Galen said, waving her away. “Dusk, can you heal me?” 

“Already on it.” His ghost piped, the blood coming from his nose stopping nearly immediately.

Galen looked at Rust, irritation rapidly replaced with a gentle worry. 

“Rust, you okay?”

“Me? Hah! Of course I’m fine!”

“That’s why you hit me?”

“Galen, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m absolutely fine.” Rust declared. 

Galen sighed. “Rust, you need to relax. You don’t need to be on edge all the time anymore.”

“You’re telling me!” Rust said. “You’re the one who hates the tower!”

“I don’t hate it Rust, I just miss life outside.”

“I can’t imagine what was so much better than this! True, there would have been better fights, but here we have safety! And food!”

Galen didn’t respond for a long moment, instead cryptically looking away from Rust. 

“Rust, you can’t remember what it was like before. It was different, when it was just us on the outside.”

Rust paused, trying to think of what to say in response to that. It was true that she couldn’t remember what it’d been like before the city was here anymore, but really, if she was meant to remember it Galen would have to have caught her up on it since then. He wouldn’t have left out such an important detail.

“I have an idea.” Rust said, settling back into her cot, sitting against the wall again. “You tell me what I forgot then. If you tell me what it was like, then I’ll be able to remember it again, and then I’ll understand why you don’t like the tower!”

“And you’re not going to punch me again when you fall asleep?” Galen challenged. 

“I will do my very best not to!” Rust said, patting the empty space next to her. “Besides. This way we can both avoid sleeping, an obvious plus on both of our parts. You can avoid hunter dreams, and I can avoid the tower.”

“I thought you didn’t mind those dreams.”

“That’s because I consider them to be extremely thorough training. You never know when you’ll need to right an ever increasing army of everyone you once knew!” Rust declared. 

After a moment, Galen joined her again, propping a leg up on hers. 

“Fine. I’ll tell you what it was like before we came to the tower.” 

**Rust-4**

Rust drove her fist into the knight, finishing it off as Galen fired into it’s back. The final of their enemies crumpled to the ground between them, and Rust looked at Galen, a thought crossing her mind. As he pulled his helmet off, she slipped her own off as well.

There, in the heat of the battlefield, she crossed the space between them in a few short steps, placing one hand briskly behind his back, tilting her head down and fiercely pressing her lips to his, synthetic materials meeting flesh. Rust broke away after a moment, staring intently at Galen

After a split-second of hesitation, Galen responded in like, leaning up and challenging her lips with his own. This kiss pressed on, the two of them standing there, surrounded by the bodies of the hive that they’d defeated, clinging desperately to each other, and when they broke apart, something had changed. 

**Rust-5**

“Galen, have I ever named my ghost before?” Rust asked. “In all the years, have I ever named her before?”

“Not that you’ve ever told me.” Galen said. “So probably no.”

“I think I need to name my ghost.” Rust said. “If I can’t remember this next time, then I need you to remind me.”

“Done.” Galen said easily, lounging beside her as they sat, eating. “What’re you naming her?”

“Probably after my favorite thing.”

“Which is?”

“Noodles. Look, trust me when I say-- I love noodles.”

“You’re naming me after food?” Her ghost appeared, asking her. “I mean. I’m not stopping you, right?”

“Why wouldn’t I name you after one of the things that I love the most?”

“You love food more than me?” Her ghost teased. 

“And more than me?” Galen added.

“You two.” Rust declared. “‘I’m not naming you Ghost, ghost. I’ve been calling you that for ages, now. And Galen, it’d be confusing to name her after you!”

“Fine, fine.” Galen said. “So Noodles?”

“Just Noodle.”

“I mean, it’s about time that you gave me a name.” Her ghost said. “It’s a fair enough one.”

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Because Exo reboots are kinda sad and like? What if they forget important things or people or relationships?


End file.
